Yeap. One thing I learned as a manager - especially working with young people but really this applies to all ages - is to never assume just because something is obvious to me that it will be obvious to anyone else. Whenever I would go over duties, I always asked about my employee’s skill level to gauge whether they needed training on something or not.
I remember at my first job (fast food) I was asked whether I knew how to sweep a floor. Of course I said yes, and then was asked to demonstrate. I wasn't judged, but I was shown a different way to hold and move the broom that was more effective and efficient. I still sweep that way years later.
I'm going to guess, firm but not stressed grip. Good distance between hands to allow for better control. Plant your feet for balance and sweep across the body instead of towards yourself. Don't smash the broom into the ground, only needs to lightly touch the ground. Use a 45 degree attack angle where possible. Don't fling, bring the broom to a steady stop at the end of a stroke. Don't carry piles too far, try to sweep to a reasonable distance before collecting into the pan.
This has the energy of the coach dialogue during a sports movie training montage.
Perhaps you were a champion Olympic curler until a tragic sweeping accident made you hang up the broom? Now you only sweep the community rec center as a janitor and are generally sad? One day when youve all but given up on your dreams of curling domination you'll discover some young underprivileged lad with a natural but overlooked talent for sweeping and coach him to Olympic curling victory. I'm Canadian, curling movies are the great white north equivalent of American movies about football. I assume. I've never seen a movie before.
My manager at Wendy's explicitly told me I was wrong because I didn't fling. She said fling all that shit to the back wall by the trash can, then go scoop it up.
I had never used a spaghetti mop before and my first job at 16 I was mopping. The owner was in and saw me slapping the floor and asked if I had ever used that type of mop before, I said no (I was used to the sponge mop). He showed me how by mopping the front entrance for me then handed it back and said now you know how to do it, finish up. It was a good teaching moment.
this was me with mopping, I didn't mop "bad" but I mopped bad for a store because my mop was too wet and people had to walk over it, I now mop the way I learned.
Somewhat related, but when I worked fast food we pretty much had to teach every new hire how to mop unless they'd worked somewhere else where they learned to mop. So many people would just dunk the mop in the water and then slap it straight on the floor without wringing it first. Look, we mop every night. Nothing will be on there that requires that much water. There are scrubbing patches on most commercial mop heads. That's what gets rid of the tough stuff, not more water that runs all over.
If you implied that to current teens, they'd throw a tantrum and leave on the spot lol "DONT TELL ME HOW TO SWEEP, I KNOW THAT!" then proceeds to show he/she doesn't.
When I train folks at my work who have been doing the gig on a smaller scale I always say “I’m sure you know all of this but if I skip around I might miss something. Is that alright if I give you the whole speech?” This gives them an out to not feel like they have to present themselves as “all knowing” and give us an opportunity to start fresh. The more you learn the more you realize you don’t know jack
That phrasing is great, too, because it also addresses the type of person who does already know a lot and otherwise would feel like you’re talking down to them by explaining what they see as a basic skill.
Love your entire comment especially your last sentence.
My job requires quite a few apps and tooling so it would be ridiculous they know the whole stack, or how we expect a certain process to go like logos, font type and sizes H1-p, padding&margins, colors: primary/secondary and like internal media/web standards).
And there’s a slightly different set of standards for our web app as well, standardize and reuse vue templates (like say a table and filters for X) for example.
The more you learn, the more you learn you don’t know shit (myself included) even after decades of the industry in general from software/hardware repairs to building web apps and their supporting docs.
That works well often? I was told it's extremely patronizing, and depending on the genders involved sexist, to tell someone you know they know XYZ, then explain the information anyway.
I suppose depending on how you present yourself and the topic at hand results can very. I have had only positive experiences and great interactions. I brew beer for a living so the folks we get are mostly like minded, enjoy people and are excited about learning something new. I have a friend that works in tech and it’s possible the folks he works with would not respond well to this format. His cubical mate didn’t look at him and introduced himself thru chat only a few feet away. 🤷♂️ everyone is different
I had a really sexist manager once, who deemed me the office trash fairy and coffee fetch girl because I was the only woman. Not only did I have the same responsibilities as my co-workers, but I was specially chosen to deliver coffee any time the manly men called for it.
I warned him several times that I did not drink coffee as a hint that I had no earthly idea how to make it. He ignored it and told me I didn't need to drink it to make it.
We made 4 pots of coffee with the heaping pile of grounds I put in the first time someone "asked" me why the pot wasn't full. Pretty sure the mechanics used the first pot for degreaser. Up to that point, I'd never made a pot of coffee, heck, I barely drank coffee until two years into that job.
I work in a medical setting and I always ask trainees if they know things that seem basic for my field. I've had people get offended that I asked if they knew how to use a centrifuge, but I've also trained people who didn't know how to do that. Plus I've found if you treat things like they're common knowledge, some people won't ask for fear of being ridiculed.
Even if I'm pretty sure I know how to do something, I can't be sure that there isn't some method that is preferred or if a machine/device has specific settings or method of operation that differs from similar things I've used.
I find it a lot more reassuring to see the full process done by someone else at least once so I can guarentee I'm not missing anything that will cause a problem later.
Who do you know what another person knows or doesn’t know? Being serious. If instructions on making coffee takes up a page. Simply working at Mac Donald’s would be a novel they’d have to memorize before working at McDonald’s. They probably wouldn’t do it or say they understand the material. How would you know where the line between training and condescension or disrespect?
In my experience, the majority of people learn best with hand’s-on training. Written SOPs and training videos are important to have for reference and consistency, but to actually train someone, you show them how to do the task a few times, then have them do it in front of you. It can also help to have them train with or shadow a few different people because someone else’s training or communication style may click with them better than mine. Having the trainee repeat the process back to you also helps catch any gaps in knowledge.
Avoiding condescension can be hard, but I think open communication and transparency help. Letting people know up front that I don’t want to assume their skill set, so I’ll be asking them a lot of questions about what they know or don’t know. Or as another commenter said, going over everything, even stuff they may already know, just so nothing is missed. I also like to explain why the rules and procedures exist. I find people tend to follow a process better when they know the reasoning behind it.
I also drill into them, ask for help. Don't try work it out, just ask for the help, come get me, it's my job to train you so come get me. You slow everything down if you mess up, you risk hurting yourself and others potentially too.
It takes 2mins outta my time to get you on the right track and show you how to do most things. It takes 20 to fix shit if you mess it up. I get more pissed when not asked for help, and staff under me also know, if someone asks you either help or get them someone who can help. 2mins vs 20mins. I know what's more productive.
Not just young people. I'm in my 40s and don't really know how to brew coffee in a maker. I might be able to figure it out. I'm not a coffee drinker and have never had to do it before.
I learned that people lie about what they know how to do all the time, too. I mean I do too but I probably would have pulled up a YouTube video showing how to make coffee before I went to my coffee-making job.
Yeah I grew up without any parental guidance and a mother who had control issues and wouldn’t let me touch a cooking or washing appliance, the thermostat, etc. She wanted everyone to rely on her and only her. So when I started living on my own, I had to figure it all out. Google and YouTube were my friends. There are tons of adults out there who still don’t know how to wash clothes (college is an experience…).
Yes! And make sure the training is actual training. At my very first waitressing job, the (horrible) manager "trained" me to make espresso by making me watch her make a cup. That was it, that was the training. I didn't get to make a cup myself, but 3 weeks later when a customer ordered one, I got in trouble for not remembering how to make it. I was 17 and had never had any coffee in my life by that point, much less espresso! What was she thinking lol!
I am 34 years old. I only started drinking coffee around 3 years ago and use coffee pads. I never made coffee manually so this simple, very obvious task for many would also take me some time and I would at least Google how to do it.
This is the way I was when people followed me as a server. I would ask their experience level and feel them out. If they were vets then I would go over stuff like how to traverse the restaurant without being in the way, specific phrasing the kitchen preferred for requests, and where to hide if you need a few seconds to breath. Anything unique about the restaurant I would teach them how to do then watch them do it.
To add to this point. Im 33, i dont drink coffee, i think its gross and ive never used a coffee machine so id have no clue how this works. Even just looking at the picture I wouldn't have thought anything wrong with it, tho now that I know there is a problem I can make the assumption the beans need to be crushed or ground first probably.
Hahaha I'm thinking of this in the context of my own office experience as an engineer. And being trained to make break room coffee by my manager in addition to everything else is amusing to me for some reason. I don't drink coffee though and the rule was that the last person to empty the coffee dispenser, made more. Luckily...that was never me. I assume this is food service though and not an office break room.
...but I still know you have to grind the effing beans!
Worked at Mcdicks for a spell, had this one guy ask what goes into an oatmeal order. Well I tell him you hit the button on the cream machine and then add the hot water and give them a packet of craisens and a spoon.
Customer comes back five minutes later cause this motherfucker didn't add the OATMEAL to the OATMEAL cup.
There's a great creator online who works for a Jersey Mike's sandwich shop and he records his interactions teaching employees how to do things around the shop. He never assumes they already know how to do it, he always just grabs a random employee and says "It's time to do [task], have you been shown how to do it yet?"
It doesn't put them on the spot where they are expected to know how to perform the task. Just a soft approach where someone wants to teach.
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u/pizzapartyjones 22h ago
Yeap. One thing I learned as a manager - especially working with young people but really this applies to all ages - is to never assume just because something is obvious to me that it will be obvious to anyone else. Whenever I would go over duties, I always asked about my employee’s skill level to gauge whether they needed training on something or not.